Best of
African-Literature

1999

Mental Fight


Ben Okri - 1999
    Strongly political, the poem touches on issues of racism, intolerance, and environmental destruction, amongst others.

Scrapiron Blues


Dambudzo Marechera - 1999
    In the "Concentration Camp," Marechera gives a poetic, deeply felt voice to the dread experienced by former inhabitants of the "keeps," the restricted villages of Zimbabwe's War of Liberation. Often he takes a child's view to measure the horrors of adult society. Gentleness paired with sarcasm marks his hardly known children's stories.